Our wonderful 4th graders from North Star Academy -Liberty Elementary School show off their broadcast news skills in their weekly news show! Our teacher, Nia Freeman, helps her students prepare their newscast and covers topics such as Latinx Heritage Month, Women’s History Month, Black History Month, and sometimes even the weather! Read more about this … Continued
Uncommon Schools’ North Star Academy Washington Park High School award-winning debate team shared their insights with NBC New York on how the presidential candidates performed in the debate! Take a minute to watch and listen to what our future leaders have to say! Read more about this story on NBC New York.
Our mission is not only to get our scholars #ToAndThrough college but also to inspire and train our future teachers! This summer, teachers from around the country came to teach our scholars in NYC and Newark! Learn more about our Summer Teaching Fellowship in this story by NBC New York’s Pat Battle! You will hear … Continued
Families joined us to learn more about our Kindergarten programs at North Star Academy West Side Elementary School! At North Star Academy your child will receive the personalized support they need to succeed from the moment they step foot into our schools. Our principal Keila Fernandez explains how in the article linked below. Read the … Continued
By Jessie Gómez Teachers like Lina Zapata at North Star Academy Washington Park High School are why students thrive at Uncommon Schools. She decided to become the teacher that she needed as a child and support every student on their path to college and beyond. Read the full article at Chalkbeat.
Jermaine a parent from from North Star Academy and Shadae a parent from Uncommon Schools NYC were invited to participate in an NBCNews NOW panel to talk about raising children in the digital age! Take a moment to watch this informative town hall, especially if you want to learn how to talk to your teen … Continued
For North Star Academy Washington Park High School students David and Justin the hard work has paid off! They are both headed to top colleges like University of Chicago and Amherst College with a full scholarship come fall. They both credit their perseverance through high school, and the support they received from the North Star … Continued
David and Justin from North Star Academy Washington Park High School already know they are headed to University of Chicago and Amherst College with full ride scholarships. These students are recipients of the prestigious QuestBridge Scholarship which provides scholarships through a college match program to attend some of the nation’s most competitive colleges. This year … Continued
As more students apply to colleges through early decision, joyful and tearful acceptance reactions are pouring in from students across Uncommon Schools. ABC News’ Good Morning America featured the stories of three students from North Star Academy Lincoln Park High School and the path to their dream college through the early decision process. Natalie, Angelina … Continued
North Star Academy in Newark had a record seven graduating seniors who will receive full scholarships through the prestigious QuestBridge National College Match program to attend some of the nation’s most competitive colleges. North Star had the highest number of QuestBridge recipients among all Newark high schools. More than 20,800 students from across the country … Continued
By Juliana Worrell Juliana Worrell, Uncommon Schools’ Chief Schools Officer K-8, advocates for strong literacy instruction using the principles of the science of reading. Read this op-ed as it originally appeared on January 20, 2024 in NJ Star-Ledger. (Subscription may be required.) In his State of the State message, Gov. Phil Murphy called for introducing … Continued
Nov 2, 2023 At the 50th anniversary of Stanford University’s Structured Liberal Education (SLE) seminar, North Star teacher and Stanford graduate Mike Taubman gave a lecture on “Searching Together for the Common Good” and talked about transposing this course to the high school environment. “The first aspect of SLE’s culture that is powerful for high … Continued
By TAPinto Newark Staff Report | Last Updated April 20, 2023 Corey Madison, a senior at North Star Academy, is making his voice heard. Saying he believed that his school and other public charter schools were being treated unfairly, Madison testified before the New Jersey state assembly budget committee. Check out his testimony here: Read … Continued
March 9, 2023 / Accelerate Institute News In 2018, Uncommon Schools’ Jody Jones won the prestigious Ryan Award for her transformational leadership as Principal at North Star Academy, where she helped lead students to meet or surpass in-state testing expectations compared to other New Jersey school districts. Five years later, Jones, now Uncommon’s Senior Director of School … Continued
By Paula White | Feb. 18, 2023 The fact is that quality literacy instruction is the linchpin variable for our children’s learning. For 2023, let’s give it the focus and boost it deserves. Read more on NJ.com
By Art Worrell | Feb 13. 2023 In this op-ed by Art Worrell, director of history instruction at Uncommon Schools, Worrell says history is messy. But by embracing that messiness, we come to understand our world and what it means to be human. Read more on NJ.com
By Dashawn Sheffield | Feb. 7, 2023 North Star Academy student Dashawn Sheffield knows that he can be a force for good — even though his dream career, which carries negative stereotypes — surprises people. Read more at Chalkbeat
Students at Uncommon Newark are taking menstrual equity into their own hands. New Jersey schools are not required to provide female sanitary products, but a student-led club at North Star is fighting to make them available. The club started almost two years ago when students managed to get a company to donate hygiene product dispensers … Continued
By Brett Peiser In this New York Daily News Op-Ed, Uncommon Schools’ co-CEO Brett Peiser acknowledges how hard the past two-and-a-half years have been on teachers, but he also knows that students and families need teachers now more than ever. Read this story as it originally appeared on October 17, 2022 in New York Daily … Continued
Celebrating the success of “Abbott Elementary,” a wildly popular television sitcom centered on an optimistic Philadelphia school teacher, Chalkbeat asked readers to nominate teachers who are their real-life versions of “Mrs. Howard” — teachers who continuously demonstrated dedication and caring during the pandemic. North Star’s WPHS Samuel Bendinelli was nominated by one of his former … Continued
Millions of students have not caught up academically after remote learning, and Uncommon Schools is making up for that. Fairmount Elementary Principal, Tameka Royal, uses pep rallies to increase enthusiasm for learning with her students. “Always stand up and always speak out. There is no substitute for in-person learning,” says Royal. The school is utilizing … Continued
By TAPINTO NEWARK |Published May 31, 2022 at 6:43 PM Growing up in Newark’s South Ward, Devia’N Parker Rogers had a lot of pets – dogs, turtles, fish. “I was always really excited to be around animals,” Parker Rogers said. “I was really shy around other people socially and kind of introverted, so I really … Continued
Please join us in congratulating Uncommon’s QuestBridge Scholars! Thirteen seniors from Uncommon’s network in New Jersey, Rochester, and Brooklyn have accepted their QuestBridge matches and will receive full four-year scholarships to 9 colleges and universities, including Wellesley and Yale. We are so proud of these graduating seniors and the work they have done to achieve … Continued
As if the pandemic itself wasn’t challenging enough, twins Joan and Judith Jatto just moved to Newark from Nigeria in 2018 and enrolled at North Star Academy Lincoln Park High School as 11th graders. Despite the challenges, however, the twins have thrived—from starting an Afro beat dance club at school to going to Colgate and … Continued
Uncommon Schools has a history of collaborating with local school districts and sharing resources through in-person professional development trainings, online workshops, and multiple best-selling books. Why? Because we believe that every child deserves a great education. Why a Blog? The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to rethink our traditional sharing avenues, but being confined to … Continued
There are no limits to the creative ways we celebrate our students’ successes. In Newark, NJ, more than 200 seniors graduated from North Star Academy Washington Park and Lincoln Park high schools. While we couldn’t hold a traditional graduation ceremony, staff, families, and students got together to celebrate how they could: a drive-through graduation. As … Continued
Whether schools will start the new year remotely or in person is on everyone’s minds. In Newark, NJ, the city’s largest charter school networks, including North Star Academy, are planning to start remotely. In-person learning will resume only when it’s been deemed safe to do so. According to Chalkbeat Newark, it’s unclear whether Gov. Murphy … Continued
Tameka Royal, a Principal at Uncommon Schools North Star Academy, participated in a national discussion about what school will look like for the 2020-2021 school year. It’s a hot topic among educators as they look to balance the health risks of COVID-19 exposure with the challenges of remote learning. As reported by TapintoNewark, Royal joined … Continued
Uncommon Schools is taking an organization-wide mental health day June 1, 2020 for the sake of our community. Like you, we spent the weekend watching, reading, grieving, raging, reflecting, and marching. We spent the weekend trying to explain to our own children what was going on, as we tried to explain it to ourselves. As … Continued
North Star Academy student Darius Brown has been using his sewing skills to help animals get adopted. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, however, he’s shifted his focus. According to local news outlets and People.com, Darius shifted production from pet accessories to face masks for frontline health workers.
via TapInto Newark Performing Arts teachers at Uncommon North Star Academy and Camden Prep created a musical video in which they sing about Uncommon’s mission. The video is just one of a handful of ways that our teachers are reaching out to their students during on-going social distancing and stay-at-home orders as a result of … Continued
One Mission, One Vision. We may be separated from one another during this pandemic, but we are together in one purpose. With joy and love, our teachers continue to show their commitment to their students and families. North Star Academy and Camden Prep performing arts teachers created this video, singing out our mission to get … Continued
When Mike Taubman was studying to become a teacher, he didn’t buy the anti-charter school sentiment. As an undergraduate, he interned at Uncommon Schools and now, at 39, is in his 15th year at the network and thriving. Many teachers at charter schools, like Taubman, are willing to work the long hours because, writes Jay … Continued
Many educators across the country are navigating a huge challenge: how to keep students learning while away from school during the coronavirus pandemic. As Juliana Worrell notes in an op-ed for The 74, we created a remote learning platform that we believe will keep K-8 students learning until we’re able to return to classrooms. We … Continued
When schools closed at the end of March 13, students in K-8 at North Star Academy were sent home with paper-based remote learning packets so they could continue practicing previously learned materials. For the high school students, time was of the essence. The Advanced Placement Exams were just a few weeks away, and almost all … Continued
No one knew how much the coronavirus pandemic would impact K-12 learning. Schools, including Uncommon Schools, initially made sure their students had enough learning packets and assignments for about two weeks. It quickly became apparent that more was needed. Starting March 30, every Uncommon student will be on a virtual school program with daily lessons … Continued
A Freeport-based nonprofit, The Book Fairies, donated more than 11,000 books so children can keep reading during the coronavirus pandemic. Educators approached the organization about books to send home to students. In response, Book Fairies temporarily opened its headquarters for scheduled pick-ups. Natasha Cherry-Perez, Senior Associate Director of Community Engagement, went to pick up books … Continued
Days after we closed all of our school, Uncommon opened back up as a remote learning organization. In New York City alone we were serving nearly 10,000 students in their homes. Our teachers and staff scrambled to survey families about their Internet capabilities, became couriers to get equipment to families, and made wellness calls to … Continued
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